CSG news update -- 2007-06-13

[China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>]

China Study Group news update

China's inflation hits 27-month high as food prices skyrocket
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=166968
Financial Express | 2007-06-13
Reuters
BEIJING, JUN 12 :  Surging food prices boosted China's annual consumer price inflation in May to a 27-month high, extending a rising trend and reinforcing expectations that interest rates will go up further.  Inflation quickened to 3.4% from 3% in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said ...

Polluted, drought-stricken China eyes sea water
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK170461.htm
Reuters | 2007-06-13
BEIJING, June 13 (Reuters) - China, where hundreds of millions lack regular access to drinking water due to drought and pollution, plans to build a huge sea water desalination plant south of Shanghai, state media said on Wednesday.  Adding to widespread drought, factories have ignored pollution ha...

China flood death toll rises to 76
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-06/13/content_893050.htm
China Daily | 2007-06-13
BEIJING - The death toll from nearly a week of heavy rain in southern China rose to 76 on Tuesday. 13 remains missing and tens of thousands were displaced.  A man inspects flood damage to his house in southeast China's Fujian province, 2006. A man inspects flood damage to his house in southea...

Yahoo `dismayed' by jailings in China
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6120061
AP/ Mercury News | 2007-06-12
Dikky Sinn
 HONG KONG - China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, Yahoo said Monday, a day after the mother of a Chinese reporter announced she was suing the U.S. company for helping officials imprison her son.  Yahoo criticized China in a brief statement that didn&...

China's defense spending catching up to U.S.
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/24097
Toronto Globe and Mail | 2007-06-12
PAUL KORING
China's military spending soared last year, vaulting Beijing into second place by some measures in the global arms bazaar, but still lagged far behind the United States.  U.S. military spending, fueled by war in Iraq and Afghanistan, reached $529 billion last year, or nearly half of all the wo...

China blames foreigners for abuse
http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/146575.html
AP/ Kansas City Star | 2007-06-12
STEPHEN WADE
China blames foreigners for abuse By STEPHEN WADE Associated Press Writer  A top Chinese union official is blaming foreign businesses for alleged labor abuse - including child labor - in the production of official Olympic-licensed products in southern China.  "We welcome foreign companies that...

China Punishes 5 for Lake Pollution
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/11/ap3809648.html
Forbes | 2007-06-11
AP
China has fired or otherwise punished five officials for failing to prevent pollution blamed for a massive algae bloom in one of the country's biggest lakes, a newspaper reported Monday.  The central government has ordered all towns around the lake to establish sewage treatment plants and issu...